Improvement in liquid-meters



Unteren Shares Parana rrr IMPROVEMENT IN LIQUID-METERS.

Specification forming part oi' Letters Patent No. yh dated June ISGS.

.To a/ZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Jardins SUTHERLAND, of

Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State o` New York, have invented anew and useful Improvement in Liquid-lveters, of which the following isafull, clear, and exact description, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, forming part ot' this specification, and inwhichu Figure 1 represents a plan of a meter constructed according to myimprovement with the valves and their covers removed; Fig. 2, a verticallongitudinal section taken as denoted by the line x :t in Fig. 1, andFig. 3 a transverse vertical section taken as indicated by the line z zin Figs. 1 and 2.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresp ending parts throughoutthe several figures. 1

My invention consists in the employment of two or more cylinders ormeasuring-chambers, arranged preferably horizontally and side by side,with pistons and valves for independent action, the same being socombined and geared and the ways or passages so arranged as that thepiston or, say, pistons, on either one side alternately, and whenhalf-way, or thereabout, ot' their travel through their cylinders, arecaused to suddenly work or throw the valve or valves which control thepiston or pistons on the opposite side, for the purpose of securing areversal in the action of the same,where by the cylinders are opened andclosed suddenly and kept open to iill and discharge, instead of beinggradually opened and closed, and with no such latitude as regardsremaining open as occurs where the valves are operated by the pistonswhich they serveto con trol, instead of by independently-inovingpistons, as in my improvement. Said invention also includes a novelarrangement of valve-operating gear for producing the actionhereinbefore described.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, which show the improvementapplied to a four cylinder meter embracing one set or pair of cylindersor measuring chambers, with their connected pistons arranged side byside of another independent set or pair of cylinders, with their pistonsconnected or linked together, to work in unison with but independentlyof the adjacent set or pair of pistons, A is a central or intermediatebox or chamber, which serves as a receiving-compartment for the water orother liquid entering by an inlet, B, and from which the severalcylinders O O and D D are fed by or through the action of. valves,substantially as hereinafter described. The sides and bottoni of thisintermediate chamber, A, are made hollow,or with connecting-passages Efor passing ott the water from the cylinders to the outlet F. Each pairof cylinders O O and D D is provided with pistons G G, linked togetherby rods a (o and yoke I-I or I-I, said yokes receiving within themwrist-pins b b', which occupy a rightangled position, or thereabout,relatively to each other and a shaft, I, with which latter they areconnected by cranks or disks c c', whereby on the pistons beingreciproeated a rotary motion is communicated to the shaft I, thatthrough a suitable indicator thus serves to register the quantities ofliquid passing through the cylinders or measuring-chambers of the meter.The water is admitted to and exhausted from the cylinders-that is,either pair or set C C or D D alternatelyby slidevalves J J', of adouble D form or construction-that is, each valve made with two bonnets,d, d and d d. These valves control, as they are reciprocated in paralleldirections to the pistons, ports c f g and 7L t' j on or to thecylinders on the one side, and c f g and h fi j* on or to the cylinderson the other side, the ports f li and j" t being exhaust-ways inconnection by passages 7c k and k k with the passages E, that lead tothe outlet F, while the poits e g hy' and e g h j connect, by ways Z mand n o and l on a o and Z on a o', the ends of the cylinders C O and DD with the bonnets of the valves or water-receiving channels or spacesoutside thereof, accordingly as saidl valves are reciprocated to coveror uncover the ports `c g h j and c g hj. rlhere is this peculiarity,however, about these several cylinder-ports and their passages, which isthat while the ports c j communicate with the outer ends of thecylinders C C, and the ports g 71, with the inner ends of saidcylinders, the ports -e j and g 7L communicate, respectively, with theopposite ends ofthe cylinders D D. 'Ihe receiving or supply chamber A,it may be observed, is in constant communication by suitable openingswith the valve cover or covers K. The valves J J are not operated by thepistons immediately over which they are arranged, but by the pistons ofthe adjacent pair J. This is done, and suddenly toward the through thearm M, suddenly throw .the valve o for Water to enter the cylinders D D'to start inders to the outlet. Alike action takes place,

stroke, when the Apistons in the cylinders D D i the valves operatedsuccessively by the adjacent independent piston or pistons to that or ofcylinders. Thus the yoke H is made to operate the valve J', and the yokeH thevalve closing` half of the pistons stroke in either direction, bythe yokes H H striking tappets L L', the one of which is secured to ashaft, R, While the other is secured to a sleeve, S, said shaft andsleeve carrying at their opp osite ends arms M M', which gear,respectively, with the valves J J.

In illustration of the operation, supposing the pistons G G of thecylinders C C' to be traveling as indicated by the arrows y in Fig. 2,and to be situated as represented, when the pistons in the adjacentcylinders D Dl will be at the end of their left-hand stroke, then thecontinued motion of the pistons G G Will cause the yoke H to trip thetappet L, and,

J' so as to open the ports g' j and passages l the pistons in the samedirection as the pistons in the cylinders C C' are running, and to passoff the Water in front of the pistons of the cylas regards the reversalof the pistons in the cylinders C C at the end of their right-hand reachhalf of their travel in said cylinders, by the yoke H' acting on thetappet L and through the lever M on the valve J. In this Way are thosewhich they control, and, heilig operated suddenly and while the pistonswhich operate them are midway, or thereabout, of their stroke, abundanceof time is given for the cylinder or cylinders Which they control tofill and discharge.

What is here claimed, and desired to be secured by Letters Patent, is-

l. A liquid-meter composed of two or more cylinders tted withindependent pistons, when these latter are controlled by valves operatedso that either one piston or connected pair or set of pistons is or aremade to actuate the valve which controls the other piston or connectedpair or set of pistons, substantially as specied.

2. The combination ofthe cylinders C C' and DD' With their pistons andvalves so arranged and operating as that either one set of pistons tosaid cylinders are reversed in their action by the motion of the valveswhich control them when the other set of pistons are midway of theirstroke, or there-about, essentially as herein set forth.

y 3. The combination of the cylinders C C and D Dl with their pistons,yokes H H', tappcts L L', arms M M', and yalves J J', for operationtogether and in connection with suitable inlet and outlet passages,substantially as shown and described. f

JAMES SUTHER LAND.

Vitnesses:

JOHN WY. Comms, J r., EDWD. P. TRACY.

